Installing Mods on Civ5 for Mac

[AlanH]

This question comes up over and over again, because the information is scattered around the forum.

Aspyr do not support or even display the ability to run mods on their Mac port of Civ5, and the process for doing so has changed several times as Civ5 has been updated and the Gods and Kings expansion was released.

So. Here, gathered together in one place, is the current set of instructions to enable the Mods menu and to obtain and install mods to use in Civ5.

I hope to maintain this post as the definitive mod installation procedure, so please let me know if you spot any errors, or if the process changes as a result of Civ5 updates.

The steps involved are:

1. Organise your privileges
2. Find your Civ5 application
3. Modify your Civ5 software
4. Find and download a mod
5. Unzip/extract/expand/decompress the mod into a folder
6. Install the mod
7. Activate the mod

* NOTES:

• '~/' at the beginning of a file or folder path is short for "/Users/<your_user_name>/
• If a file or folder path begins with '~/Library' then this location may be hidden on your Mac. Use the Finder's Go to Folder menu option and copy/paste the path in order to find it.

1. Organise your privileges
You must be logged in as an Administrator on your Mac in order to modify the software.

I strongly recommend that you use BBEdit or TextWrangler, or another text editor that allows you to authenticate with your Administrator password in order to edit files owned by root. Otherwise you will have to modify the privileges for the files you have to edit, and for their parent folders before you edit them.

2. Find your Civ5 application
Your Civ5 application is in one of two places depending on whether it is registered with Steam or with the Mac App Store.

• In a Steam-registered installation, select the Finder's Go->Go to Folder menu option.
Copy and paste the following path string into the text box and click Go:

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/sid meier's civilization v/Civilization V.app

This will open a Finder window with your Civ5 application highlighted.

• In a Mac AppStore registered installation highlight /Applications/Civilization V Campaign Edition.app

3. Modify your Civ5 software
You have to edit some script files within the Civ5 application in order to enable the Mods menu.

When you have highlighted your copy of the Civ5 application, right click or control-click it and select Show Package Contents.

Find the following folder within the package contents window that opens:

Contents/Home/assets/UI/FrontEnd/MainMenu.lua

Open this file using a suitable text editor (see section 1 above).

Find the following line (line #37 in my copy) and insert two hyphens at the start of the line to make it into a comment line as shown:

--	Controls.ModsButton:SetHide( true ); -- MAC_PORT - rickb Comment this line out to re-enable mods. Happy modding!

Save the file.

If you have the Gods & Kings expansion, repeat the above steps to edit the second copy of the file at:

Contents/Home/assets/DLC/Expansion/UI/FrontEnd/MainMenu.lua

Finally, go to this post by Iamgoofball and follow his instructions to replace the file:

Contents/Home/assets/UI/FrontEnd/Modding/InstalledPanel.xml

4. Find and Download a Mod
You cannot install mods using the Steam Workshop. That only works for Windows users.

[UPDATE] New feature: If you are using the Steam version of Civ5 then you can now subscribe to a Steam Workshop mod. It will then download to a folder on your Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/########/ugc/ *. You have to find the [mod mane].civ5mod file in this folder, and extract and install the mod manually (see next sections). The Mac version of Civ5 doesn't do this for you.
As of December 9, this no longer seemed to work, but it's back again now (January 27, 2013)

If you are running the Mac AppStore version then you will have to find a downloadable file for the mod you want. The best place to look first is in CFC's Civ5 Downloads Section. If the mod you want is only available from the Steam Workshop, then you will have to find a friendly PC user with Civ5 to download it for you. You can then copy the mod folder to your Mac, skipping Step 5 below.

Download the file for the mod that you want.

5. Expand/Extract the Mod
Mac Civ5 cannot handle a compressed mod file. It must be extracted into a folder of plain, uncompressed files before you install it.

Steam Workshop mods will download as compressed .civ5mod files. These files are compressed using '7zip' format (.7z). Other mods may be available in a number of formats - .zip, .7z, .rar. These are all single files that contain the separate files that make up the mod.

If the mod downloads as a .zip file then you can use your usual unzip utility. Safari may well unzip it automatically, depending on your settings.

If the mod downloads as a .civ5mod or .7z or .rar file then you can use Keka or Ez7z or Unarchiver to extract it. Depending on your extraction software, you may need to change a .civ5mod file extension to .7z so that it can recognise it.

I have now found Keka, which seems to work well. It is still available at MacUpdate, and downloads as a disk image file. It is probably a better alternative to Ez7z, but I suggest that you set its General screen to "Always extract", otherwise, if you drop a .civ5mod file onto it, it will not recognise it as a compressed file, and it will compress it again!

Ez7z used to be available at MacUpdate.com, but the link seems to be broken as of January 2013. It is available at TechSpot, but TechSpot is one of those annoying download sites with lots of distracting links, and the app downloads as a .rar archive, so you need another extractor to get at the disk image to install it!

Whatever unzipping software you use, install it into your /Applications/ folder, drop the downloaded file onto its icon, and make sure that you end up with a single folder containing all the individual files (.xml, .lua, .dds, .mp3 ....) and subfolders that make up the mod.

6. Install the Mod
Move the extracted mod folder into the following folder to make it available for Civ5:

For the Steam version:
~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS

For the AppStore version *:
~/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.civ5campaign/Data/Library/Application Support/Civilization V Campaign Edition/MODS

7. Activate the mod
Launch Civ5. You should now see the Mods menu option on the main screen. Click it, and you should see a list of the mods you have installed. Click a checkbox to activate a mod. Click Next. Click 'Single Player" to proceed to the modified game setup screens where you can choose the Mod options to play. Do NOT click Back, as you will not see the Mod options in the standard game setup screens.

* If you can't find ~/Library on your Mac, please see the Notes near the top of this post.

[Jtsrobin]

I followed your exact instructions, but when I copied that path string into the text box, but it told me that the folder couldn't be found. and by the way, I have my game from steam

[cduston]

Running 10.7.5 with Civ G&K's 1.0.1.705 bought through App Store.

I had to unpack with Ez7z and renamed the folders to the mode name. In this instance those folders are r_e_d_ww11_edition_v_30 AND R.E.D.WWII Data Files (v4) as this particular download is in two parts.

Can I please query step 6.

There is no such destination folder already in existence (user\documents\aspyr..etc). I can create it and populate it with the two mod folders but nothing comes up inside the Civ5 mods menu (which comes up fine).

Should the path be: "user/documents/aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS/Some mod or other/(files and stuff)"?

[bandrej]

Hi, took me a while, but i figured it out.

I have Civilization 5: Campaign Edition that i bought from App Store, did most things from AlanH's tutorial, except i couldn't find that user/documents/aspyr etc. folder...


That folder is actually located here (at least for the appstore version):

~/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.civ5campaign/Data/Library/Application Support/Civilization V Campaign Edition/MODS

Library folder inside <user> folder is hidden, so you may have to use Go To command in finder.

Hope that helps!

[cduston]

Perfect, thanks very much.

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

When I try to save I get this:

The authenticated save for this file failed (application error code: 20004)

Sorry for being such a rank newb.

[AlanH]

Sounds like a permissions error. Are you running Mountain Lion, and/or are you logged in using an admin account?

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

Originally Posted by AlanH

Sounds like a permissions error. Are you running Mountain Lion, and/or are you logged in using an admin account?

I am running Mt. Lion and am using the admin account?

Sorry for the late reply.

I will go do you some tweaking and see if I can get it going. Any other advice?

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

Originally Posted by AlanH

Sounds like a permissions error. Are you running Mountain Lion, and/or are you logged in using an admin account?

Trying it again.

Got the message:

"Are yo sure you want to unlock "MainMenu.Iua"?
You aren't a member of the group "wheel".

Any ideas.

Also, thought it would be worth mentioning that I made my wife's user account an administrative account when we first got the Mac.

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

Originally Posted by AlanH

Sounds like a permissions error. Are you running Mountain Lion, and/or are you logged in using an admin account?

You can't use the AppStore version of TextWrangler. Must be from barebones site.

Also, make sure read/write privileges are enabled.

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

you were in this room I would high five you AlanH!

Just enabled huge earth map!

It's like this game is new all over again thanks to the wonders of modding and the patient, informed guides such as your-self.

Thanks for posing all you have!

I poured over them for a few hours and got this!

You are the man!

[AlanH]

Sorry I didn't see your earlier posts. It's good to see you managed to solve the problem without my help. You learn so much more that way

[JohnnyFriedEggs]

Originally Posted by AlanH

Sorry I didn't see your earlier posts. It's good to see you managed to solve the problem without my help. You learn so much more that way

It was actually kind of fun. Interesting at the least. These machines are amazing.

Anyway, I have a new problem I posted about in the MAC section concerning expanding MODs into a folder.

Any tips would be most appreciated AlanH. You are a great resource here! Thanks again.

[MadLion]

I have Civ 5 via Steam. I am following your instruction but I received the below error, Please help. Thanks:


The folder “Civilization V: Gods & Kings” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.

[AlanH]

Hi, welcome

Step #1 is:

Organize your privileges.
You must be logged in as an Administrator on your Mac in order to modify the software.

Did you do this?

[MadLion]

AlanH, thanks for your prompt response. Yes, my account is the administrator account on my Mac so i thought it is odd it did not give me permission to the file. This must be a Steam issue. no?

[MadLion]

Actually, instead of copying the entire "~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/sid meier's civilization v/Civilization V.app", I copied ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/" and do the other part manually and now I am doing ok ( I feel like such a himbo when it comes to these things).

[AlanH]

I don't understand why you are copying anything. My instructions don't mention copying any folder.

[MadLion]

Originally Posted by AlanH

I don't understand why you are copying anything. My instructions don't mention copying any folder.

Mr AlanH,
You never mentioned copying a folder and I did not as well . You did mention, however, to copy a file path: "Copy and paste the following path string into the text box and click Go:" That cause my computer to say I do not have access to the file .
Anyhow, no worries, once that was conquered , I now have access to mod on Mac. Terrific guide thanks !
Cheers

[s. tellier]

Alan, thanks for taking the time to write this guide. If you (or anyone else) can help me, I'd quite appreciate it.

I'm running the basic Civ V through steam on OS X 10.8. When I show package contents for the 'Civilization V.app' all I have is a folder labeled "Contents" with two sub-folders ("MacOS" and "Resources") as well as a file labeled Info.plist. I do not see a "MainMenu.lua" file anywhere -- are you familiar with this issue?

Thanks in advance.